Leaderboard

If I were to pose a "disagree" point of view - 1.) The Embick hire was a no-brainer. It's who Porter wanted as his successor. He was already within the program. Compare that to the identification and hire of Porter after Lolla left. THAT was a great hire. No one thought we'd upgrade after Lolla. 2.) Groce was just fortunate timing. Like when Gary Waters fell into CSU's lap after Rutgers. He was just fired by Illinois and looking for work...he was highly familiar with the MAC, successful in the MAC, and Akron was appealing with it's string of 20-win seasons and championship appearances. Another no-brainer. 3.) I dunno if most wanted Bowden fired. At best it was probably 50/50, with 50% giving him one more year. And 50% of fans always want the back up QB to start, and the coach fired. It took some balls to fire Bowden, pay him off, and pay off UTC to get Arth. If it turns out all the expense netted us one win in 2 seasons, and 70 kids in the transfer portal, it was a colossal botched hire. I really wonder if we'd need to drop to a lower division because all players transfer out. We'd need to file for some sort of appeal with the NCAA to field a D-1 team. In a program with no great hires in it's 34 year D-1 history, if Arth leaves now his hire would be hands-down the worst. I don't think there would be an opportunity for redemption for a guy responsible for killing the football program. We'll see what happens if Arth leaves. He's not returning GT's texts...but it could be that he just doesn't want to discuss the next Pixar movie.

HC Charlie Frye. Chase Blackburn as DC. Hixon as OC. With transferring being so easy, would there be any players left to coach?

I remember when KD was trying to get Swingle here. Swingle is now part of one of the fastest growing college basketball groups in America- former Duquesne players.

My immediate thought was Jimmy Haslam and Tennessee. Yikes! LOL. I don't have a problem with the idea, that's just the situation that came to mind.

1. Williams forked over the money to make Embick one of the highest paid coaches in the nation. Do we agree/disagree with that move? 2. Williams hired Groce, and hired him on a very friendly contract his first few years, taking advantage of the Illiniois buyout. Do we agree/disagree with that move? 3. Williams fired Bowden - who most wanted fired. Do we agree/disagree with that move? Supposedly there were complaints KD and Bowden had about administration, but everything I've heard on that end is incredibly vague. I'd like to hear some more details before making an opinion on that. Biggest thing against him that I know of is that he may have botched the Arth hire. If Arth leaves early, I'd call it a failure, but it also gives him an opportunity to redeem himself. If he doesn't leave, I'm willing to see the process out 1-2 more seasons.

Yes. I told my friends this via text last night. Van Horne should go with him. He has been the constant through all of this and past miserable hires.

I like Hardline but we can't afford him. My first choice, though, is Vince Kehres, former Mount HC and currently on the staff of UC under Fickel. He knows the area, understands the opportunity to build a legacy here, like his dad did at Mount and he knows how to win with class. Before hiring him I would fire Williams and find an AD who stood behind his coaches and was willing to fight for each program. Williams has screwed nearly every program at Akron at one time or another to stay in vogue with the administration.

Want to win or not?

??

I was surprised to see Tribble in the game at the end but he is very athletic and played great defense. I also want to compliment Ali. He had a great game. He played great defense and made a nice three and just always seems to be in the right position. He even got to play a little guard tonight bringing the ball up at the end of the game. He has really improved from last year. I know the game was sloppy but I thought we played great the last 8 minutes when we put the game away. I also thought Reese had his best game of the year. I would like to see him get more minutes because he has the best post up moves of any of the Zips. We need inside scoring. Lastly, I am glad we did not get Swingle. He did not score and Freeman just ate him up on the boards. (That's a lot of eating)

Like I said. No doubt. Falcons are always overrated chokemonsters. Love the FT shooting. Such a change from the last coach Bowden.

Freeman is awesome. What a find. Kid plays so hard and with fundamentals that I wouldn't expect from a pick up from the rec center

That's the Groce basketball I like to see!! Statement game!

Freeman is a beast! If we didn't have him I shudder to think what our rebounding would be like.

Solid choice. Can't go wrong with the son of God. Probably a better choice than even Lee Owens? But is coaching the Zips football team worth coming back after 2000+ years of laying low? Coach Halford still seems like the likely choice.

GT's latest- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2021/01/20/university-akron-mens-basketball-team-begins-develop-chemistry/4235205001/

The term I would use is "educated guess" in that you do the best with what you know with a lot of unknown around your final decision. Far more than the candidates for P5 schools. It's tough for G5 schools these day. No money to compete even against coordinators or high level assistants pay at P5 schools. Bowden at LMU is an educated guess. There is a lot to know about him and you are making an educated guess that there is still some gas left in the tank and the Bowden name still means something. Charlie Frye would be a good educated guess that he could be the coach. We know he has played at a high level so he as been exposed to at least two different NFL teams. We know he coached at an SEC school so he was exposed to life at a place where they have the resources to field a competitive team. We know he coached with a guy who really knows offenses and was a coordinator for the guy. He's a safe, likeable guy from Ohio who would never do anything to embarrass himself or the school. What we don't know, and is the guess, is whether or not he is capable of taking what he has learned and turning that into a successful leader of a program. College football is results driven and there isn't evidence he can lead a program, but there isn't much evidence many of the G5 coaches getting hired now are capable of leading a program to success either. Other than Frye graduating from Akron, there is little difference in resumes between him and Arth. Is the connection to the school enough?

your last statement made me laugh out loud. Good ole GT sure loves his movies.

When I read the ABJ article about Freeman I do not think it was about recruiting but it seemed like after high school Freeman wanted to be done with competitive basketball. I know many gifted high school athletes that have been playing their sport since kindergarten and are tired of the grind and just want to be done. He had an academic scholarship and it seems like he did not seek to play competitive basketball. It was only after arriving on campus did he decide that he wanted to "try out" for the team. K-lac did not receive a scholarship out of high school and went to a Florida sports academy to work on his game. Groce gave him a scholarship when he was first hired and gave his a chance to play division one. I never thought K-lac would be a contributor because he was slow and did not have basketball instincts for the game and just never learned from his mistakes. The guy got called for a moving screen a dozen times and constantly was in foul trouble. Todays game is about quickness and athleticism and you can see it in Groce's recruits and in Freeman. Look at the matchup between Swingle and Freeman last night. Freeman dominated even though he gave up 4 inches and 100 pounds.

Remember this? "My predictions; 1st 5 1. Jackson 2. Dailey 3. Ali 4. Marshall 5. Freeman"

Teams that think they can beat the Zips with this guy at the helm will have another thing coming.

Vince Kerhes, whom I was sorta pulling for last time ‘round.

I will be the first to post it: Whoever is the coach at Mount Union OR that guy from Wayne State.

The Zips grabbed 49 boards with 7 blocks tonight. That's some big boy basketball.

Nobody could see how good Freeman would be. I watched him last year and the only thing that stood out was that he had skinny legs. I fully expected him to be a player that only got into the game during blowouts. He decided to take basketball seriously and has amazing talent as a rebounder and shot blocker. One of my favorite Zips this year.

What I really like with Freeman is his fast-twitch hops. He doesn't have to wind up before take off. He catches the ball and effortlessly dunks it. Obviously, he will have to add strength to his frame as he goes along, but I hope he doesn't lose any of that explosiveness in the process.

zipsoutsider is gonna be pissed when he sees this

The Kwan Cheatham Special

Those two 3s by Wynn were big in the first half when others couldn't find their touch. A couple contributions like that per game would be HUGE!

However, they do know where Dylan Frye is seated.

Solid win!!!

Looking like we just had a little fluke of a road trip at NIU and EMU. We're good. Statement win tonight

Pretty boring and sloppy game for the most part, but I'll never complain about a W. Amazing how in one week we lose to EMU and NIU, then beat Toledo and BGSU the very next week. Hopefully we keep playing at this level. Go Zips!

It is a very stagnant offense. We spread the floor and let LCJ beat his man and then dish the ball to the corner. I do not like how much we are standing around but it is working because LCJ is too quick. Also, Trimble is starting to remind me of Cheese, a strong 2nd scorer to compliment LCJ. I also agree, Freeman is great on the boards.

Anderson Varejao-esque. ??

Very pleased with Trimble the past couple games.

Currie with some ML Carr quality towel waving. It's Carr-esque.

They seem to be more interested in Dylan Frye sitting in the stands than the game they are announcing.

https://footballscoop.com/news/report-the-chargers-are-targeting-a-mac-coach-for-the-staff/ 1. Who wouldn't double their salary, given the chance? 2. He would be the first Zips coach in the I-A era to "move up" and not be fired.

I totally get what you're saying and I agree with you. But I rarely see players as obsessed with their head coach on social media as he was during the recruiting process. And he was a pretty well-recruited player out of high school. It's probably a non story, but it's simply odd to me that someone can be sold so hard and buy in with everything just for this to be the result. I appreciate the thoughtful response!

Yep, he passed up a four footer to pass it to a guy 12 feet from the basketball who can't make a 4 footer. Good defensive half.

Unfortunately despite the incredible performance Saturday, Dailey is trending toward being a disappointment to me. He looks so deep into his own head and plays stiff when he's clearly able to be a really good slashing G/F. It's cringe-inducing sometimes because we can all see the potential.

Boy if you didn't know any better you would not think these were two of the better teams in the MAC

Come on Dailey...thought he would have some more confidence after last game.

THAT'S A BUSHLEAGUE CALL!!

I don't think the administration much cares. If Arth leaves they'll breathe a sigh of relief for dumping that salary then go bargain basement like WMU did when Hawkins their basketball coach retired, hiring some bargain basement underling assistant.

As expected.

With a decade invested on ZipsNation and 7,800 posts, I choose to trust you. And if you aren't quite 100% certain of Brandon Bischoff's scholarship status, that is something I can live with. ? Thanks for all the content you bring to ZipsNation! I don't acknowledge it often enough!??